adalene's in this bitch. {closed}

Adalene never had a problem with causing a scene. However, she preferred to be in control of said scene, and typically they didn't revolve around embarrassing her, instead starring some other poor sap. Yet here she was, right outside a large mansion-turned-school, with her mother smothering her with affection, doing her best not to cry (failing horribly) while at the same time trying to straighten Adalene's unruly hair, an equally failed endeavour. Honestly, Addie didn't even know why she tries with that one, as she had given up on that years ago. People were starting to look, and really, Adalene did not need to make a bad first impression. After all, she had a reputation to uphold. "Maman, I appreciate the concern, but really, I think I can handle it from here. No need to fuss." She tried to hide her annoyance with the emotional woman as she gently pulled herself away and gathered her bags. She said her goodbyes to her mother and to her father, who wasn't nearly upset about her going away to a completely different continent as her Maman. After all, it had been his idea that she go to this damned school in the first place. Adalene didn't see the point. She had gotten by just fine with private instructors. Something about "interacting with gifted children your own age." All garbage if you asked her.She set off towards the gate and entered the school, looking at it with an unimpressed gaze. Here she waited until someone arrived to show her around. A cousin of her's or something, her father had told her. She knew she had family here, but she barely knew any of them and nothing really connected them aside from a name. Still, family ties were better than nothing, and it was a start.

There was little Valerie Amell did not hear about that happened in Beata. She had her little birds tell her everything, from mundane gossip to student enrollments. Practice for the future, she told herself, the Amell family didn't become one of the most influential families in France by ordinary methods. Knowing and being prepared for anything came hand in hand with always staying on top. When her little birds reported another Amell was coming, the blonde walked into the offices and extracted the new student's file. Adalene Amell. Uncle Lucien's daughter. It looked like half the family was being moved to Beata, probably a wise decision considering the rest of their family were all in Sofia. Too many Amells in on place tended to have dangerous consequences. But she didn't have to be happy about it, every time she felt like she'd solidified her reign, some new Amell came in to disrupt everything.

"Hmph." She sounded wordlessly, walking towards the school entrance with her little minions in tow. With completely blank looks in their eyes, they followed two steps behind her. Their initiate uniform looking a little worse for wear, but they didn't seem to notice. Valerie preferred to pick newer students, the older ones were too noticeable to use. She'd been reprimanded plenty due to her incidents with Kayla.

Turning the corner, she finally spotted Adalene with her long blonde hair which was almost identical to hers. She, unsurprisingly, looked every bit the perfect Amell. Uncle Lucien's good looks shone through. Not that it made Valerie insecure, she was just as confident in herself. Anyway, a part of her was relieved that this time it wasn't someone who'd bring shame to the family name here. Bridget and the Hawkes were family embarrassment, it would be nice to have semi-decent company. "Adalene," she called out, just as Lucien and Vanessa left. "Welcome to Beata, ma cousine." She greeted the girl, walking over to kiss the air on either side of her cousin's cheeks as customary. Maybe, just maybe, her cousin would even be of some use to her.

As soon as she heard her name, Adalene looked away from the school and spotted a girl who was just as blonde and beautiful as Adalene herself. Undoubtedly an Amell. A small smile appeared on her face, though any smile of her's was more of a smirk than anything. She hadn't been sure who in her family was here, but she vaguely remembered this girl from her childhood. Valerie, if she recalled correctly. They wrecked havoc on other children together, even before Adalene's powers manifested. "Bonjour, cher cousine." She replied, returning the air kisses before backing up and examining her cousin's posse.The slight warmth she had before was gone, replaced with a calculating look at each of them. Useless information on their lives clouded her brain, but nothing stood out to her. She rolled her eyes. Some people were so boring. There was nothing of interest in their lives that she could see. Adalene turned back to Valerie, ignoring the others. There was no use making conversation with lesser beings. "My father told me you'd be showing me around the school, yes?"

Adalene's calculated looks as she observed her little clique; was a welcome refreshment in her life. Oh how dull her life had been surrounded by mindless sheep that could be bent to her will with a word. Kayla had caught her attention for a little while with her apparent immunity to her mind control, but it turned out that she was just a boring daughter of a crack whore with more daddy issues that even she could stomach. Which was saying something, she was self-aware enough to know that her issues with daddy dearest would give any psychologist a field day. A perfect, slight curling of the lips was all she showed to signal her silent approval. She offered her cousin an arm as she replied. "Oui, though I'll keep it quick so you can rest. There isn't much to see, the school is nowhere near as big as the main residence in Paris."

With her spare hand, Valerie clicked her gloved fingers, and gestured for the girls to pick up her cousin's belongings. Like well taught little birds, they wordless did as she ordered and took the bags away to the initiates dorm. "They'll take care of that. You'll be staying the initiate's dorm, they'll move you to a proper dorm after some silly test in a week's time. Anyway, how's things back home? Great grandfather still in good health?" Only the slightest inflection in her voice gave away the fact she was hoping that Emmaneul Amell had finally dropped dead. The patriarch of the Amell family was an outdated windbag that maintained the family's male-preference primogeniture from the Stone Ages.

Adalene took her cousin's arm, watching as the girls gathered her bags- which she admittedly had a large amount of. The girl simply hadn't been able to decide what to bring, so she gathered what she had considered important and left what she could live without. While there was a plethora of bags with her, that hadn't even put a dent in her possessions at home.

She had heard vaguely of the test and the different houses she had a chance to be sorted into, but hadn't been aware she'd be staying in a temporary dorm first. How inconvenient. "And which house are you in?" She asked, wondering which was fit for a proper Amell. She didn't want to be put in a house full of lazy, mindless animals.

At the mention of her great grandfather, Adalene barely refrained from rolling her eyes. She had spent a good portion of her life at the main residence, as her father believed in visiting Emmaneul as often as possible. Their mansion was rather close by, so it wasn't too much of a trip, but she loathed her great grandfather. In fact, she knew very few people who didn't. The old man was sexist and outdated, and she always felt uncomfortable in his presence. "As always. A miracle, really." Her words were flat, and she really didn't put much effort into sounding genuine.

With nothing else to keep them in the entrance, Valerie lead her dear cousin out gently by the arm, gesturing to the dormitories they passed as she replied to Adalene's question. "Spring. We value order, respect, and organisation." She tapped the markings on her blazer lapels. "Same as Sebastian, our second cousin through grand uncle Francis. Try not to end up in Autumn," she gestured to the dorm where loud music was being played and a girl with absurdly dyed violet hair was visible dancing to the beat. It was obvious why Valerie personally disapproved. "Or Winter for that matter, Bridget is there." There was nothing really wrong with Bridget, per say. In another family, she would have been lauded as extraordinary with her doll puppeteering, but in a family that only valued mental powers, she was sadly seen as a black sheep. The fact she got to keep the last name, Amell, was a miracle in itself.

Adalene echoed Valerie's position on dear Emmanuel, reaffirming to the Spring that her cousin was worth her time and perhaps, they could even call themselves friends one day. However, for now, she maintained their dance of never quite crossing over into outright stating their hopes of the patriarch's early demise. Trust would come later. "He's going to outlive both his children, at this rate." Her tone was light and jovial, but she trusted Adalene would get her.

Adalene let out a soft, amused laugh. "Why, it seems as though the Amell's are taking over yet again." Although, what hadn't they taken over? The family had positions in government, business, and practically ran Sofia. Now more and more Amell's were showing up at Beata Academy, and she wouldn't have been surprised if it was all intentional. Not that she minded. Power was always something she craved and sought, something she learned from her father. "Then I'm sure I'll be joining you in Spring soon enough. Truly a house fit for an Amell." And if somehow she was sorted into another, she was sure her father could make arrangements.

Looking over at the Autumn house, Adalene spotted the girl dancing to the awful music. Immediately her power told her about the girl, all about her recent bad behavior and antics. She rolled her eyes. Nobody ever tried anymore. Surely this girl could build a respectable life for herself if she simply tried, but instead she was shaking her butt and flipping her obnoxious purple hair. What a waste.

Adalene studied her cousin while she spoke of the patriarch. She considered herself very good at reading people, partially because of her power, but her power didn't do all the work. Though she could tell people's story, she had no grasp at their emotion. She considered both equally important tools against people, and so she learned how to read emotion on someone's face. Adalene studied Valerie, and while she spoke with a light tone, she could see how it falled flat of genuine joy. Her guess was that she had the same opinion of Emmanuel as Adalene had. "I certainly hope not! All the love to great grandpa dearest of course." Her voice was laced with sugar when she spoke, the words thick on her tongue. "But the thought of my papa passing ever is simply too much to endure." And while she meant it as a joke, she honestly meant it. Adalene had never been a loving child, and saw her mother more as a mouse- over anxious and emotional. But she loved Lucien. In fact, the only person who truly had her heart was her father.

Valerie laughed lightly along with Adalene, but she couldn't truly find humour in the Amell take over of Beata as her coming here wasn't under the best of circumstances. Sofia was usually the school Amells went to, her father had gone there, along with almost every other Amell. She'd been dragged here after her little stunt with some vapid little bitch she barely remembered. It really wasn't really her fault, the girl shouldn't have tried to go toe to toe with her. Anyway, Valerie didn't really mean for her to jump off the balcony, but she couldn't say she regretted ordering the girl to kill herself. If only she hadn't been exiled to Beata over this little incident, she might have been more open to the school, yet to her, it still felt a little like a glorified imprisonment. At least, now she'd have decent company. "I'll be waiting for you, Cousin." She replied with certainty, she had high hopes for her cousin and had no doubts that she'd succeed in her endeavour. After all, to people like them, failure was never really an option.

A satisfied glimmer remained in her eyes at Adalene's sugary words that echoed her sentiments nicely, except when she mentioned her father, Valerie couldn't quite be in agreement. She was careful to school herself, not wanting her own issues with her father to leak through. "Uncle Lucien always seems to be in the peak of good health. I doubt he'll even catch a cold this winter. I'm worried for my father though. He always so busy lately." She pried a little, wondering if Adalene had any news of him. Not that she cared for Renard, if anything, she was hoping for news of his early demise along with news of the family Patriarch. Unlike her cousin, her father meant nothing much to her, he was always absent, off in exotic countries, probably fucking exotic women. She was ten when her mother broke down in front of her, confessing to her that she had half-siblings thanks to Renard's indiscretions. Ever since, she looked at both her parents in distain, her mother was weak and her father was a hypocrite.

Adalene nodded, looking absently around the school. There really wasn't much to look at if you were used to this sort of majesty, and Adalene was no strange to elegant places. At the mention of her father, she nodded contently. "Yes, well, I can only hope I get that from him as well. No time to be sick." In fact, if Adalene ever did catch a cold, she could probably just force it away with sheer determination, in the same way she got everything else she wanted.

There wasn't much that wasn't talked about in her family, but there wasn't anything good talked about outside of closed doors. She'd heard whispers of Renard's behavior, his love for power equal to his love for exotic women, and how when he actually was at home, he paid no attention to his daughter. But whispers were whispers and they weren't the same thing discussed over the dinner table. Oh, we're so proud of Renard! Being CEO of such an important bank must be so tiring! He really goes above and beyond to make his family proud! She figured the latter was the safer bet to bring up. "Oh, I've heard he's doing just fine. He works so hard, but I'm sure he's taking care of himself, no need to worry too much." She glanced over at Valerie as she spoke, looking for a crack in her facade.

'Pity.' Was the first thought that flashed to mind, but that was quickly consumed by nonsensical guilt that gnawed at her heart, leaving her frazzled internally. She didn't care for her father, he meant nothing to her, or that's what she told herself. He'd never truly shown affection for her, or even spent time with her, but that little girl who didn't know why papa was never home wanted his approval still. It disgusted her just how much she needed his little nods of approval, the way he'd intake a breath when he was pleased with an outcome. She always played right into his hands too, her engagement to Stephan was all her father's political power playing, connecting their family to the Leveson-Gowers, but when her father arranged it all, she couldn't say a peep in her defence. Naturally, her mother had dumbly nodded along, never fighting for her daughter, well, never against Renard at least. It was hard to tell really where she actually sat the longer she thought about it, so she tended to push her feelings aside, boxing them neatly into dislike for him. Which was what she did right now.

She maintained her pretty little smile, perfectly straight, white gleaming teeth on show as she lead them to the courtyard where students bustled around between classes and on weekends. "That's good to hear, it's so hard being so far from family this long. I always worry that something will happen to him and I won't be there." These words were harder to say than well wishes for Emmanuel, but she kept her face in line. Her hands, however, were tightly clenched. "Ah, this is the courtyard, most students spend their time here, and often, you'll find a few people engaged in combat. It's amusing to watch, most students here come with completely unhoned gifts."

Adalene studied Valerie curiously, noticing the slight clench of her fists at her side. If it had been anyone else, Adalene would have exploited this, but since it was family, she knew better. An Amell's game was of the mind, and she figured Valerie would be her equal in this, more so anyone else around Beata. Plus, despite her love of playing with people, family ties were still above all else in her mind. So she let Valerie's words slide without poking too hard at them. She went for a more light approach. "It is quite difficult being away. Especially when we have to spend all of our time with Americans."

Listening to her cousin's words, Adalene looked around in surprise. She couldn't believe so many powerful children were just walking around unsupervised. Surely that was against some rule somewhere. Besides, she had been raised since a child by a special tutor on how to control and use her power. "I'm assuming you learned before coming to Beata as well, then?" She couldn't imagine having no inkling of an idea of what you could do. Still, they all seemed pretty gung-ho about conflict. If she tried hard enough, she could probably start up a fight or two for fun. She made a note to remember to do that.

Unclenching her fists slowly, Valerie tactically chose not to respond to her cousin's statement verbally, not trusting that she would maintain the perfect tone of placidity to agree with her. Usually she was quite good, but snippets like her recent phone call with Renard kept intruding on her mind, stirring her up. Instead, she opted for focusing on the honest truth that being around these Americans with their confusingly diverse cultures was a pain and laughed lightly, only saying a setence when she realised her original plan was a little awkward to pull off. "Yes, Amercians are très difficile to be around, but that is our lives for the foreseeable future, I'm afraid." She wasn't certain if it was deliberate, but she appreciated the escape her cousin gave her. There was nothing she hated so much as losing face. Her experienced of family had been disjointed so far, Renard's personal view of seeing everyone as something he had to step on to move up perverting her own views. But for a second, she considered something more than an alliance of blood, or pure companionship. Friends? That would be something new.

"Of course, I was tutored even before I developed powers. Papa believed a strong mental foundation was key to our powers." Valerie, like most Amell children, had been taught by a professional tutor, Kia Amell, another distant family member with the same power as her. She'd been forced to withstand multiple assaults mentally from the elder Amell from a young age, Renard refused to see his daughter do worse than he did when he was young. "The students here seem to rely on their baser instincts to navigate their powers. Do be careful, some of them are rather feral." She warned, leading Adalene to see the melted sculpture by the fountain. It was clearly the work of a student with powerful heating capabilities.

Adalene watched Valerie relax a bit with the subject of her father being passed. Good. She didn't need any discomfort stirring under the surface there. She made a mental to approach that topic very carefully if ever brought up again.

While Valerie talked of it, Adalene got a flashback of said mental attacks and though she followed along beside her cousin, for a moment she was stuck in the other Amell's memory. She felt every attack on her mind as her cousin had felt and she let out a quiet breath at the intensity of it all. After a moment it passed, and she forced herself to respond, though her voice was a bit strained, but it was subtle enough that not everyone could notice. "I've heard that as well about mind control. I sadly wasn't fortunate enough to be born with it." It was a bit of a let down, actually. She was content with her power, and it didn't give her the power to control others, but it did give her the means to manipulate them in her own way. She was at a disadvantage compared to other Amell's, but she wasn't the type of person to let that stop her. "My power is knowing others, not controlling them."

At the sculpture, she stopped for a moment to admire it. Adalene had a secret respect for strong, uncontrollable forces. They were often looked down on for an Amell, as their powers were based on the mind and its strength. But Adalene often found herself amazed with the idea nonetheless. Still she didn't let that show on her face as she gave the sculpture a bored once over and kept walking. "It's amazing how they can do such things with such little control." It was with disdain, but she couldn't hide the respect she felt.